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Habibi posted:Yeah yeah, we've been over this (and I remember someone getting very heated about this in the old thread), but I still find it telling that Erikson tends to use skin colors literally (blue, black, ochre, rust, etc...) rather than in a way that applies to our own social norms. And for the record, on at least one occasion he describes Rake as having "jet-black" skin (and it is facial features that are referred to as having been 'cut from onyx'). Andarist is described as having skin "black as ebony." Arantha has "black skin faintly dusted." Etc... Again, my point is that he's pretty specific. He describes some as 'midnight,' some as 'black,' some as variations - which to me are intended to get across the slight difference in shades. Hence why, when he describes humans as having 'black' skin, I interpret it as is. i am one of the people who got heated up about it (  ) and i never read it as anything more than Erikson using varied language in describing people and things to avoid repetition.someone - i don't know if it was you - made the argument that he described kalam as 'black' or 'dark' and quick ben as 'black-skinned' but i feel it's weird to draw the conclusion from that fact that we're meant to think of quick as literally the colour black as in the colour of these spoiler tags or the silent void of space. i wish i had the books on digital media so i could Ctrl + F the passages where he describes these things so i could come back with some proper arguments.  another thing is also that it's simply illogical to me that one single person would somehow be a different skin colour to what we as humans are used to, even if that single person happens to be the rather extraordinary quick ben. i really feel that if erikson wanted us to imagine his human characters in ways you wouldn't normally expect a human to be or look, he would be a lot more obvious about it, because i can't think of any other instance where a 'standard human' is described as anything but very normal according to our 'social norms' and finally from what i can remember erikson never said that having these souls within him changed the way he looked. edit: just making it clear though that these are to me the most interesting points of discussion because it's fascinating how people can read so wildly different things in the same text. that's why i'm sperging out, I'm Not Angry Opal fucked around with this message at 23:01 on Mar 2, 2011 |
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Mar 2, 2011 22:53
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A Nice Boy posted:Meh, I feel like that's predicated on some unwritten rule or something, which does not exist. Erikson wanted a world full of magic, so that's how this world is. You can like it or not, but I think saying that "magic should be used sparingly if at all" is putting rules on imagination, in a sense, which is silly. i don't think it's entirely fair to call an opinion he is certainly entitled to 'silly'. authosr put rules on imagination all the time and erikson isn't an exception. it's true that either you like it or you don't and the world is the way it is but it's a valid complaint being of the opinion that magic 'should' be used sparingly.
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Mar 3, 2011 08:53
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well, i personally took my cue from his starting the sentence with "I like magic here and there" but i can see how you could interpret it differently. also, nice custom title, who did you piss off?
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Mar 3, 2011 20:02
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i had the same feeling actually starting out on TCG. i dunno, in order to care about characters i really need to remember what they're about and their storyline and erikson is juggling SO MANY by the end of this series that it's hard to keep track of them all.
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Mar 4, 2011 10:11
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hahaha holy poo poo [Redacted], we should have thought of that earlier, it's literally the best thread title for this series
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Mar 4, 2011 21:59
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edit: answered above
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Mar 6, 2011 02:35
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i think it's intentional, too. a question: i can't remember, do we ever learn who Cartographer is up to Dust of Dreams? if so can someone please remind me because i'm blanking hard.
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Mar 6, 2011 21:58
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Juaguocio posted:That's massively underrating ICE's writing in my opinion. Even second-rate Malazan is superior to any of the garbage spewed out under the Forgotten Realms name, and ICE did a much better job with RotCG than NoK, so much so in fact that I would consider it his proper debut. It's akin to GotM in many ways, being pretty rough around the edges and a bit slow to get going, but once the action picks up you won't be able to tear yourself away. i disagree, i honestly think he's a pretty bad author by any standard. i gave RotCG an honest shot but 400 pages in and he still hasn't made me care one whit about anything. i'm going to spoil myself on the highlights of the rest of his books unless somebody comes along and says that a given book is actually on par with the rest of the series. edit: thank you god you got a different avatar this time around A Nice Boy, i was getting sick of looking at the retard kid edit 2: in TCG the scene where Silchas meets Tulas again was amazingggg, i giggled like a child at their banter. Opal fucked around with this message at 17:43 on Mar 16, 2011 |
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Mar 16, 2011 13:07
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HUMAN FISH posted:edit: Though seeing (early TCG) Ruthan Gudd still alive made me fistpump irl. Although in my copy he was "Rudd" for one page. are you sure that wasn't Rudd Elalle, Udinaas' son?
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Mar 22, 2011 09:12
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Cervixalot posted:Also, i'm only about 1/3 to 1/2 through TCG, but don't they refer to him as Ryadd Eleiss throughout the book? I was confused about that at first, but then realized that its his eleint name, or something. like Juaguocio said it depends on who's talking to or about him. his father and probably a few others call him Rudd and Silchas calls him Ryadd. i'm pretty sure i saw both in the first half of TCG.
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Mar 23, 2011 09:18
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why do they keep refering to Korlat as Sister of Cold Nights at the end of TCG? they do it twice and the second time is very pronounced. is it just some sort of honorific? i thought we knew who and where she is (inside Silverfox, on Assail) edit: i also found it weird that we never found out what happened re: the destriant of the wolves and all the ghosts hanging out in the centre of the main defense. it's implied she stayed there when the grey helms left to make their last stand but nothing more is said of her. Opal fucked around with this message at 14:09 on Mar 25, 2011 |
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Mar 25, 2011 09:43
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when?
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Mar 25, 2011 15:01
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Waddley Hasselhoff posted:things you should spoilertag that but oh jesus you're right and i remember why i made myself forget about it too iirc only one of the wolf gods died and for real this time which means that one of them is doomed to spend ANOTHER ETERNITY without its mate and i guess my poor heart couldn't bear contemplating it too much edit: i should follow my own advice Opal fucked around with this message at 16:52 on Mar 25, 2011 |
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Mar 25, 2011 16:36
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a lot of us disagree with you. i think ICE is a bad author by any standard. "JUST READ THEM" is honestly very weird advice and doesn't answer his question or mine at all. what if we don't.. want to?
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Mar 31, 2011 14:32
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you should read Richard Morgan's Market Forces instead, it's v. good. it's scifi though.
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Mar 31, 2011 15:03
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also even though they were likely written for a slightly younger audience, i found Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn by Tad Williams to be pretty good actually
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Mar 31, 2011 16:05
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Nigulus Rex posted:Shrug. The point is that it's Malazan Universe. If I wanted to read something by a 'better' author, then I would...but it's not Malazan and therefore I care less at this point in time. i don't understand what you're saying here. i don't care what you read, we're not talking about recommendations for you here. you are entitled to your opinion on ICE but some guy asked us if there was a place he could read a synopsis of ICE's book plots. you went all "ugh just read the books" and said that ICE was a 'good author' as if it was a fact and not your personal opinion and that's what i took issue with. Turpitude posted:Since we are recommending stuff I'll throw in Sailing to Sarantium by Guy Gavriel Kay, which is more like Historical Byzantine Empire Fantasy. It has some of the best action scenes I've ever read in the form of chariot races. hey thanks for the recommendation, i'll check it out! General Battuta posted:Altered Carbon was way way better. haha, i'm actually re-reading Altered Carbon right now and i agree but if somebody isn't that into scifi i usually recommend Market Forces as a primer because it's a standalone novel. (although of course Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies are all kind of standalone as well..) Opal fucked around with this message at 16:40 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 16:37
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Illuyankas posted:Korbolo Dom just made up his own assassin organisation and called them Talons. They're not connected to the originals, and Cotillion probably doesn't give a poo poo what they do. are you sure he actually called them the Talon? i seem to remember they were called something else but i might be mistaken. Decius posted:Edit: Market Forces is i actually preferred Market Forces to Black Man but maybe i was coloured by having read it first and Black Man last. his style gets a bit same-samey after a while.
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Mar 31, 2011 20:07
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well i'm pretty sure we've established that the new assassins are unrelated to the original Talons unless somebody comes up with a line in the books to the opposite. edit: the above is a response to Boogle Habibi posted:99% sure. I'm also pretty sure Kalam gives a huge i realised the source of my confusion now, RotCG/HoC/whateveri was getting Korbolo Dom's Talon mixed up with the Black Glove mentioned in RotCG who operate inside the Claw and allowed Mallick Rel to take over control of the Claw from Laseen. Opal fucked around with this message at 20:28 on Mar 31, 2011 |
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Mar 31, 2011 20:21
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over it. So I don't think there's evidence of any connection whatsoever, but he did use the name.
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Habibi posted:Pshh...ICE, not sure how to take this
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Mar 31, 2011 21:22
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icking fudiot posted:Finished TCG, i agree with this completely. i loved the series and even the book but this is the post i wanted to make when i finished it but i couldn't put it into words properly. i think the immense size of his canvas eventually caught up with him. in my opinion it started in Lether actually, even though i loved a lot of those plot threads.
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Apr 1, 2011 10:41
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Oh Snapple! posted:I basically considered it one last way to poo poo on the Awl - the person leading them to extinction not even being one of them it was also a final nail in that he was not the real Redmask as they had thought, but an impostor
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Apr 4, 2011 10:00
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Habibi posted:I thought the original predated that elder story? that was my idea too but i can't find any relevant sources for it right now edit: while googling for malazan stuff i keep ending up on the malazan empire forums and those guys have the weirdest loving theories on everything Opal fucked around with this message at 21:22 on Apr 4, 2011 |
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Apr 4, 2011 21:09
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Vanilla Mint Ice posted:Complaining that the villains of the tenth book didn't have enough time to develop is very silly when you're praising the second and third book which also had only one book to develop their villains. you should think about what you said here
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Apr 6, 2011 18:52
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you forgot a closing bracket there
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Apr 8, 2011 19:32
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Juaguocio posted:I was kind of confused by that interview too- Erikson seems to ignore several questions in order to make grandiose statements (which I must confess I skipped over- sorry Steve, but I've had just about enough of your verbosity at this point), and he seems to have a pretty lofty opinion of himself and his writing. "Post-modern fantasy?" Give me a break. Malazan is good, but it's not that good. so, "post-modern" means "good" to you?
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Apr 10, 2011 03:43
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ah, i misinterpreted your sentence. i see what you're saying now.
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Apr 10, 2011 11:52
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approx. at book six or seven?
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Apr 12, 2011 09:33
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Hieronymous Alloy posted:edit: not so much the actual character names as the proper nouns. Every time I see "T'lan Imass" or "Starvald Demelain" what I think is "random syllables are not a fantasy language." Some aren't so bad -for example, tiste edur/andii etc. which clearly have some linguistic structure -- but about half the time he might as well be telling me about the nation of the R'andom Sllyablez people and their warren of AreThose YourFries. i don't care about "fantasy names" one way or the other but, wasn't it explained that T'lan comes from the word Tellan with the apostrophe added which in their language (and ours) indicates that something is missing? and in the language of the Imass the thing missing symbolised something deeper than just "there's meant to be a few letters here". i might be misremembering completely, though.
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Apr 12, 2011 21:09
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^^^^^^ drat youSankis posted:So, I'm about to start The Crippled God and I have a few questions/worries. edit: spoilertagging this because the guy above did. they get a small mention but their 'story' isn't part of TCG, no. there are still some gaps so i assume/hope it will be dealt with later on. Sankis posted:I also feel like I have absolutely no clue what's happening. I know this is usually normal for this series, but it feels especially bad right now. Am I supposed to be feeling this way? I assume I am, but I just want to check. I have no clue what's going on with Palan in the very beginning, and only have a faint recollection of what happened to Tavore. i felt exactly the same way and it seems it differs from person to person. i guess some have better recall or something. re: Paran you aren't meant to know what he's doing or exactly where he is and how he got there quite yet so don't worry about it. re: Tavore it picks up more or less just after the end of Dust of Dreams but there's a lot of build-up before we meet them so just be patient. this book was the hardest for me to get into but around the middle or just before it started feeling familiar again. Opal fucked around with this message at 08:09 on Apr 15, 2011 |
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Apr 15, 2011 08:07
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Phummus posted:At the risk of feeding the trolls, I have to ask why you even bother to post here? You've almost nothing positive to say and you seem to get off on criticizing people for what they like, or criticizing what they like directly. Why bother posting in the thread at all? If you don't like it, ignore it. Nobody is strapping you down and forcing you to read Erickson's stuff. haha what the hell? he spent a couple of posts debating his opinion in a rational manner and before that he's discussed the series like everybody else. what brought this on? did you get him mixed up with somebody else?
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Apr 15, 2011 15:19
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coyo7e posted:Did that explain anything for you? No? Good. I'm confused, too. What would've happened if, inside Dragnipur, the Chaos caught up to the gate to the true warren of shadow - which is what I assume/remember was in the center of the wagon, and where/how the hounds escaped to, for instance? actually the warren of darkness, just fyi or whatever
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Apr 16, 2011 01:15
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Sil posted:So Enduring Suffering, Noble Sacrifice and Petty Tediousness are the new gods of war? tell me more
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Apr 22, 2011 01:34
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this jumping on people who criticise this series even slightly is getting old
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Apr 26, 2011 18:33
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CrazedLlama posted:I was expecting Grub to go all out, or at least reveal some of his strength and was disappointed he just led some troops,[/spoiler] it may just be me but i interpreted that whole thing as being deliberate on his and erikson's part. it seems almost as if grub and sinn were two sides of the same coin and when he saw what happened to sinn when she gave into the magic he decided to exercise a lot of restraint. i actually found it quite poetic that he held so much power within him but relegated himself to a "common general"
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May 2, 2011 10:37
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hellvis454 posted:Last weekend I had the great pleasure of throwing my Books of the Fallen (all 3 of them) into the garbage can. man, come on, you should have given them to a library or a second-hand bookstore or something. could have felt like a good samaritan!
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May 2, 2011 19:17
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Loving Life Partner posted:Someone on the Malazan FB community did some cool cover designs. Guess he's gunna do a whole set: those are amazing apart from the flying giant ninja on the gardens of the moon cover
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May 11, 2011 10:13
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what names do you like in other books (that are fantasy)
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May 11, 2011 19:34
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only semi-related but there's a reference to the Black Company series by Glen Cook in the Witcher 2, a medic/surgeon called Croaker in the field hospital in the Kaedweni camp in chapter 2. gave me a chuckle. 
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Jun 7, 2011 11:19
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Many people who read this series have read the Chronicles of the Black Company and maybe they want to discover it for themselves. Is it a big deal for you?
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Jun 7, 2011 14:03
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